THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING A CULTURE GOING

Compiled/partly written by Melvin Durai

April 2019

For many Indian-American families, preserving
their Indian culture is important, but so is preserving
another culture: yogurt.

In a recent New York Times article, Priya Krishna
writes about the importance of home-made yogurt to
her family and others, and the great lengths to which
some have gone to bring starter yogurt from India and
keep it going for decades.

“My own family’s yogurt culture—which my father
got from a sister-in-law, Sonia, who couldn’t recall
where she procured it—has survived a move from one
corner of Dallas to another, the two years my parents
lived in the Philippines, and the many times my sister
and I accidentally polished off a batch of yogurt without
leaving any to make the next,” Krishna writes. “Luckily,
my father, Shailendra Krishna, keeps two containers
of emergency culture
in the freezer—and
has successfully used
them a few times.”

This starter yogurt
culture is like
an heirloom, Krishna writes, and can be passed down
generations. It’s different from the culture found in
store-bought yogurt, which is less acidic.

“It is that full mouth feel,” he told Krishna. “It is still
sour, but it has this milky quality that coats all of your
mouth. When you eat something spicy and you need
relief, this is the yogurt that delivers that.”

Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.

[Comments? Contributions? We would love to hear from you about Chai Time. If you have contributions, please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]

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